Flaherty Says He's 'Front Runner' For Lt. Governor

May 01, 1986|by DAVID M. ERDMAN, The Morning Call

Lieutenant governor candidate Thomas Flaherty said yesterday that Robert P. Casey is keeping state Sen. Mark S. Singel on his tick et only out of "commitment" and that Casey knows Singel won't cut it in the primary.

"Bob Casey knows I am going to be his running mate," said Flaherty, the flamboyant Pittsburgh city controller whom Singel has charged with running a "flimflam" campaign by making political hay of his name association with former Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty.

A spokeswoman for Casey, who has been campaigning frequently with Singel, said the Casey campaign was surprised by Flaherty's statements. The statements were made in an interview during a set of campaign appearances by Flaherty in Allentown and Bethlehem.

Citing a number of statewide polls, Flaherty labeled himself the "front runner" in the race for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, saying Singel of Johnstown is a "blip as far as statewide recognition goes." The third candidate, state Rep. Dwight Evans of Philadelphia, is "lost in the shuffle," Flaherty said.

The campaign of the 35-year-old Democrat, probably the most visible lieutenant governor candidate in western Pennsylvania, already has prompted state Rep. David W. Sweet to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination because he said he expected Flaherty to win based on his name recognition.

Despite what Flaherty claimed were the results of a Casey poll showing Singel to be behind by almost a 3-1 margin, Flaherty said he didn't expect Casey would drop Singel from the ticket so late in the race. But Flaherty claimed Casey was remaining loyal to Singel only because "he is a man of commitment." He said, "Certainly Mark Singel isn't adding anything to the Casey campaign."

Casey spokeswoman Jessica Berman declined comment on Flaherty's reports of the Casey poll results that he said showed Singel far behind Flaherty in the race. Said Berman: "I don't know where Tom Flaherty is getting his numbers.

"While it is true that he (Mark Singel) has been behind," she said, "he is not as far behind as he was when he started, and we are encouraged that he will do well in the primary. We continue to be 100 percent behind Mark Singel."

The Casey spokeswoman characterized Flaherty as "the opposition" and would not comment on Flaherty's assertion yesterday that he is "friendly" with the Casey camp or that he has discussed the race with Casey.

Flaherty responded to Singel's urging that he should drop out of the race because of charges in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story he was pressuring city employees to give to his campaign. The story also reported that a complaint had been filed against Flaherty with the State Ethics Commission. Singel spokesman Joseph Powers, said yesterday: "We have every reason to believe (the Ethics Commission) is conducting an investigation.' '

But Flaherty answered that, "to this date we have not been contacted by the Ethics Commission." He challenged Singel to produce more evidence on the charges above what the newspaper had reported based on anonymous sources.

A Casey-Singel ticket, said Flaherty would be "politically incestuous" and would "anesthesize the voters, which is the last thing the Democratic party needs." He said he could lend a "traditional Democrat" element to either a ticket headed by Casey or by former Philadelphia District Attorney Edward G. Rendell, who he said are being too moderate in their approaches.

"We should stop trying to apologize and be real Democrats," said Flaherty.

The economic development plans of both Casey and Rendell are "conservative, " Flaherty said.

What's needed, he said, is a plant-closing law that would require all plants that contemplate a closing or relocation to give the community in which they are based a year's notice before making the action.

Citing the decision by Mack Trucks Inc. to locate its proposed $80-million assembly plant in South Carolina, Flaherty said such a bill would have bought Allentown more time to draw up an incentive package for Mack to stay local or overcome other obstacles to the plant being built locally.